Going To Montauk For The First Time...

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

In a couple of weeks, I'm gonna go to Montauk. I am looking for info from anyone who has tips, tricks etc. I plan on visiting Reeds Fly Shop to get info and fresh tackle from them also. I will have kids in tow from 2 yrs old to 12. I plan on using my fly rod that I have only caught 1 fish on (so far).

So, please don't hold back.

[jdmidwest]

As long you don't expect too much, it will be everything you expect. The campground is nice. The river is low and crowds are thick if you go on the weekend. Check the calendar and pick some time there is not a tournament going on. A tournament weekend will be a bad first trip.

It is a place where you can be the only one on the river in a stretch and still have someone walk in and snag your line....

[Gavin]

Light tippet...6-7x...small flies...good polarized glasses...and some stuff to do for the kiddo's..pretty good bike riding park...fair playground in loop 3....tour the mill if its open...take a road trip and hike to Welch Spring, Devils Well, etc.

[stlfisher]

Hard to go wrong at Montauk IMO. Small dry fly's size 22 and smaller should work well. The water is going to be low and crystal clear so midday fishing will be tough. Multiclored Glo balls always catch fish under an indicator.

Plenty of hiking/biking trails and you can always take the kids down to Tan Vat and Baptist camp if they want to swim a bit. You can fish while they swim.

There is a section at the begginning of the park that would be ideal for kids to fish...you will see it...easy access and slow water a few feet from the parking lot. Would be a perfect kids only area now that I think about it.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

I think I will be doing alright, now that I've watched a few Hank Patterson videos. Does anyone know how big of a cutbrown population they have? I would really like to catch a 2 foot 14incher. Gonna have at least 1 betty white. :-~

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Well, Hank Patterson doesn't know what he is talking about LOL.

Went to Montauk over the weekend. Tough fishing. I did not go out at the horn, so maybe that is where I messed up.

Some things I have learned:

Montauk's Campground 1 camping spots are not very friendly to tent campers vs many other state parks that I have camped at. The sites are very flat, but not very spacious. On the spot we chose online, it looked like a there would be a large spot between my site and the one next to me, not so. I was in sites 107, and 108.

Reeds Fly Shop is not the shop that is close to the campgrounds. ( will have to try next time) I was told that Reeds was in the park, and as we were looking to find out where to get tags, we went into the lodge which has a fly shop. I made the mistake of thinking that it was Reeds, and just not marked.

The hatchery is not as neat looking as Roaring River's hatchery and raceways.

As long you don't expect too much, it will be everything you expect. The campground is nice. The river is low and crowds are thick if you go on the weekend. Check the calendar and pick some time there is not a tournament going on. A tournament weekend will be a bad first trip.

It is a place where you can be the only one on the river in a stretch and still have someone walk in and snag your line....

"As long as you don't expect too much, .... " Very true. Unfortunately everyone else had me hyped up.

Very true words about people crowding you. I was fishing an area with a good pool in it. It had been a little while since I caught my only fish of the weekend, and a family of 3, walked up and was not 1 foot from me and started casting. No one else could be seen.

If you camp in campground 1 and it rains, beware of the SAND. Sand is everywhere, and will get everywhere. Protect your equipment.

I was under the impression that this would be a World Class Trout Fishing oppurtunity. I was dissapointed. I guess if you have alot of money and stock yourself up with the latest and greatest of equipment, and you hype yourself up, it is. I didn't.

I have been to Roaring River twice. One time was during the weekend Hurricane Ike blew through, the river rose about 8 feet overnight. I did not catch anything, but the park was beautiful, and catered to the whole camping experience in my humble opinion ( we had to be evacuated to the higher campground). The second time we got rain the whole weekend, minus a couple of good hours, I caught 1 fish. I would endorse Roaring River over Montauk. I live in the St Louis area, and RR is alot further of a drive for us but well worth it.

... Disclaimer I am not an avid trout fisherman, I do not generally go fishing without the kiddos 2, 5, 12 years old. We did get a steady rain all weekend. (wife and kids were not enjoying that aspect of it) I am still new to the flyrod, (which I did not get to use... :-(

[jdmidwest]

You drive by the entrance to Reed's Cabins on the way into the park, it is on the left before you descend the hill and has a sign pointing to it.

The campground is on a constant flood plain, hence the sand all over. It gets washed out several times a year on a normal season. Most of the other parks, the camping is located out of the flood plain on hills.

Montauk is what it is and is actually one of the better trout parks. The stream is more natural and is wooded on both side for most of the park. You can always find shade. But I would never consider any of the trout parks as world class. All are manipulated for the convience of the average fisherman that wants to bring home some meat. At least it does not have sidewalks running along the banks like some of the other parks. Good thing you did not try Meramec Springs!

If it makes you feel any better, I drove 3 hours to Spring River in Ark. for a float fish with a friend and his son on Sat. It was raining so hard that we never left the porch or the cooler and came home without wetting a hook. But we still had a great meal and some quality bonding time.

[DustyPockets]

Remember there is plenty of river outside the park.